Mumbai: Virender Sehwag credits the Indian Premier League (IPL) for fast-tracking little known players to the top level of the game.
The former India captain and dashing opener cited the examples of all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Yusuf Pathan, rookie pacer Mohammed Siraj, and Australians David Warner and Glenn Maxwell to buttress his view.
"I think what the IPL did to Indian cricket is that it gave unknown players to the Indian team. If they play only for their first-class team, they will take at least five to six years to come and play for India. But through IPL, those players who have talent and who did well in one season were part of Team India the following year. That is what IPL did," Sehwag said.
"Ravindra Jadeja is one of them and so is Yusuf Pathan. Recently Deepak Hooda, fast bowlers (Mohammed) Siraj and (Basil) Thampi got picked (in the Indian squad) because of their IPL performance," added the 39-year-old.
"The IPL is giving unknown players to the Indian cricket team, Indian cricket fans and the same thing happened with other countries. Look at David Warner and Maxwell. IPL is a great platform for players to showcase their talent and it has really fat-tracked players' growth," Sehwag explained.
According to Sehwag, the IPL benefited him financially while pointing out that whenever a player gets dropped from the Indian team, it affects his price in the T20 league. In this case, he gave the examples of seasoned campaigners Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Gautam Gambhir.
"The IPL benefited me financially because when I played for India, it was Rs two lakh per game, Rs five lakh for Test matches and then suddenly in the IPL, you get a Rs 10-crore or Rs 12-crore contract. You are then financially secure and you can work more on fitness and perform for both IPL and India.
"The moment you get dropped from the Indian squad, prices drop which we have seen in case of a lot of players, especially Yuvraj, Gambhir and Harbhajan. Since they are not playing for India, they did not get Rs 10 or 12-crore contract," he added.
Sehwag also spoke about how the IPL has emerged as the biggest cricket league in the world. "The IPL is the biggest league in the world and one of the favourites (among various leagues) in the world because any one player, playing cricket anywhere in the world, wants to play in the IPL.
"So, it shows that the credibility and publicity of the IPL is so big that even an uncapped player, who is a player of some other country, wants to play in this league."
Almost all cricket-playing nations find representation in the IPL which is not the case with other T20 leagues, Sehwag said. "The IPL is the biggest because all nations' players are playing in it, which you would not find in any other league," such as Big Bash, CPL or BPL where Indian players are not present. "That's why those leagues are not as big. Only in the IPL all world-class players are playing and that is why IPL is the best in the world he emphasised.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan Royals announced the appointment of former Mumbai opener Zubin Bharucha as the head of cricket for the upcoming IPL season, the franchise said in a release. Zubin commenced work with the team on January 1.
Zubin first started to work with the Royals in the inaugural year of the IPL, identifying talent as well as being responsible for planning and development of the players, setting the foundation for a strong squad.
